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Fatal and Nonfatal Rip Saw Injuries |
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| Authors: | Klára Handlosová M.D. Ondřej Klabal M.A. Marek Dokoupil M.D. Vladimír Vojtek M.D. Matěj Uvíra M.D. Petr Handlos M.D. Ph.D. |
| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Forensic Medicine, University Hospital Ostrava, CZ-708 52 Ostrava, Czech Republic;2. Department of English and American Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc, CZ-779 00 Olomouc, Czech Republic;3. Department of Forensic Medicine, University Hospital Ostrava, CZ-708 52 Ostrava, Czech Republic Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Ostrava University, CZ-703 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic;4. Department of Radiology, University Hospital Ostrava, CZ-708 52 Ostrava, Czech Republic;5. Department of Forensic Medicine, University Hospital Ostrava, CZ-708 52 Ostrava, Czech Republic Department of Intensive Medicine and Forensic Studies, Faculty of Medicine, Ostrava University, CZ-703 00 Ostrava, Czech Republic |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with a fatal stab wound suffered by a 29-year-old man and nonfatal injuries of 35-year-old and 67-year-old saw operators. Rip saw is a machine that is specially designed for making a rip cut, a cut made parallel to the direction of the wood grain. Rip-saw-related injuries mostly occur when a person is struck by the cutting material, which usually involves splinters of irregular shape and diameter. When the splinter strikes the body diagonally, the injuries may include abrasions, lacerations, and cut wounds; in situations where the victim is struck directly, the most common injuries are oval- or star-shaped stab wounds with a varying width of abrasions around the wounds. Therefore, such injuries may come across as injuries produced by a knife-like instrument, which is an added difficulty in the interpretation of such injuries. |
| Keywords: | forensic pathology rip saw sharp force injuries stab wounds homicide suicide accidental death |